FIMA Year Book 2009 - Federation of Islamic Medical Associations

Inculcating Islamic Inputis the last revealed book from God andit verifies all the previous revealedHoly Books So it is very logical toquote from the latest edition of a bookinstead of some old edition as it coversall the previous books and hence gives aholistic approach to spirituality.In the Qur’an it is stated :`“And this is a blessed scripture which Wehave revealed, confirming that which(was revealed) before it, that you maywarn the Mother of Villages and thosearound it. Those who believe in theHereafter believe herein, and they arecareful of their worship” (16)`And this Quran is not such as could everbe invented in despite of Allah; but it is aconfirmation of that which was before itand an exposition of that which is decreedfor mankind - Therein is no doubt - fromthe Lord of the Worlds.` (17) .It can be concluded that spirituality andreligion are not necessarily different asshown in the equation below:Spirituality = Divine Guidance = Religion ORSpirituality = ReligionAs mentioned earlier, Islamic inputwill provide appropriate attitude andIstiqamah. In addition to this, theinculcation of Islamic input will alsohelp students to understand their roleand to identify appropriate behaviorexpected in the healing process. TheQur’an states:“Now when hurt touches a man he criesunto Us, and afterward when We havegranted him a boon from Us, he saith:only by force of knowledge I obtained it.Nay, but it is a test. But most of themknow not.” (18)Current affective domain models mainlycover those aspects that are concernedwith dealing with the patient or inother words professionalism. Islamicinput covers all these aspects relatedto the professionalism and in additionprovides a holistic approach to thepatient, his family, his understanding ofdisease and healing process and aboveall, the value of divinity. This holisticapproach brings doctor and patientclose to God and helps them in makingdecisions and accepting outcomes.The philosophy of Islamic Medicine:Before inculcating the Islamic input itis wise to understand the philosophyof Islamic medicine to appreciate thedifference between Modern medicineand Islamic medicine and to establishwhether there are any major differencesbetween the two. Islam gives guidancefor all aspects of human life includingpersonal affairs, social, political,financial, marital, religious, health andillness issues, etc. Careful analysis ofthe Qur’anic verses provides divineguidance related to the philosophy ofmedicine and this will further help us todecide which is the better philosophicalapproach to medicine.Islamic medicine as described in theQur’an has two components:1. Physical component and2. Spiritual component.The physical component is described byFIMA YearBook 200933